Citation link:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/vasari1851bd4/0363
JACOPO DA PUNTOBMO.
355
house of Borgherini, for the purpose of causing the command
of the Signori to be put in execution ; but when they arrived
there, the wife of Pier Francesco, who had remained at home,
confronted the principal assailant with reproaches of such
intolerable bitterness that the like had never before been
hurled at man alive :—
“ How then ! dost thou, Giovan Battista, thou, vile
broker of frippery, miserable huckster of twopences, dost
thou presume to come hither with intent to lay thy fingers
on the ornaments which belong to the chambers of gentle-
men ? despoiling, as thou hast long done and as thou art
for ever doing, this our City of her fairest and richest orna-
ments, to embellish strange lands therewith, and to adorn the
Halls of our enemies. Not that I can marvel at thee, man of a
base lineage, and traitor to thy country, however grovelling
maybe thy acts ; but for the magistrates of our city, who have
descended to abet these abominable proceedings, what shall
be said ? This bed, which thou, for thy own greediness of
gain and sordid self-interest, wouldst now lay hands on, vainly
seeking to veil thine evil purposes under a fair pretence,—
this bed was adorned with all the beauty which enriches it
by my father-in-law Salvi, in honour of my nuptials ; to
which he held this magnificent and regal ornament but the
fitting decoration ; I, then, do prize this gift, both from reve-
rence to his memory and out of the love I bear my husband;
wherefore, I mean to defend it with my own blood, and will
retain it while I have life. Depart from this house, then,
Giovan Battista, thou and thy myrmidons ; depart, and say to
those who have permitted themselves to send thee hither, with
command to remove these labours of art from their place,
that I am here ; I, who will not suffer that one iota shall be
disturbed from where it stands. Tell them, moreover, that
if it befit them to listen to the counsels of such as thou art,
base creature of nothingness, and if they must needs make
presents to the king, Francis of France, tell them, I say, that
they may go to their own houses, and, despoiling their own
chambers of their ornaments, may send them to his Ma-
jesty.
“ For thyself, if again thou shouldst be so bold as to come
on a similar errand to this house, thou shalt be amply taught
what is the respect due to the dwelling of a gentleman, from
a A 2
355
house of Borgherini, for the purpose of causing the command
of the Signori to be put in execution ; but when they arrived
there, the wife of Pier Francesco, who had remained at home,
confronted the principal assailant with reproaches of such
intolerable bitterness that the like had never before been
hurled at man alive :—
“ How then ! dost thou, Giovan Battista, thou, vile
broker of frippery, miserable huckster of twopences, dost
thou presume to come hither with intent to lay thy fingers
on the ornaments which belong to the chambers of gentle-
men ? despoiling, as thou hast long done and as thou art
for ever doing, this our City of her fairest and richest orna-
ments, to embellish strange lands therewith, and to adorn the
Halls of our enemies. Not that I can marvel at thee, man of a
base lineage, and traitor to thy country, however grovelling
maybe thy acts ; but for the magistrates of our city, who have
descended to abet these abominable proceedings, what shall
be said ? This bed, which thou, for thy own greediness of
gain and sordid self-interest, wouldst now lay hands on, vainly
seeking to veil thine evil purposes under a fair pretence,—
this bed was adorned with all the beauty which enriches it
by my father-in-law Salvi, in honour of my nuptials ; to
which he held this magnificent and regal ornament but the
fitting decoration ; I, then, do prize this gift, both from reve-
rence to his memory and out of the love I bear my husband;
wherefore, I mean to defend it with my own blood, and will
retain it while I have life. Depart from this house, then,
Giovan Battista, thou and thy myrmidons ; depart, and say to
those who have permitted themselves to send thee hither, with
command to remove these labours of art from their place,
that I am here ; I, who will not suffer that one iota shall be
disturbed from where it stands. Tell them, moreover, that
if it befit them to listen to the counsels of such as thou art,
base creature of nothingness, and if they must needs make
presents to the king, Francis of France, tell them, I say, that
they may go to their own houses, and, despoiling their own
chambers of their ornaments, may send them to his Ma-
jesty.
“ For thyself, if again thou shouldst be so bold as to come
on a similar errand to this house, thou shalt be amply taught
what is the respect due to the dwelling of a gentleman, from
a A 2